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I kept telling myself that I would write a blog post on the first term at university but never got around to it so here we are about to start an exciting 2nd term but recapping my first semester at the University of Nottingham studying medicine. Freshers Well I guess this is where it all starts isn’t it… commonly heard of as ‘the best week of your life’ and ‘a week of party’. I can confirm that this is generalised, it isn’t all plain sailing. Don’t get me wrong I did enjoy freshers but in terms of nights out I have preferred recent ones due to feeling more settled. During freshers I felt as if I was just bumbling along and going with the flow which I think is important in not getting too stressed or worried, but it was a strange feeling, especially not knowing anyone. Saturday = moving in day I moved into flat 5 of my university accommodation in the late afternoon after a long journey up with my parents. I HAD SO MUCH STUFF! Once we had unloaded the car my room became a bombsite (I think my flat mates would agree), I experienced this bombsite to the max when I decked it and bent my toe back and literally couldn’t move it…a good start! After saying my goodbyes it was time to cook my first dinner and meet my flat mates (legends). With my room mostly sorted we headed over to another block in Broadgate park for drinking games and socialising, this was by far the weirdest night as I literally knew no one (of course most people were in the same situation). When I got back to my flat the emotions hit, it was all unfamiliar and it hit me that I had left everything and everyone at home, about to start a new chapter of my life. Sitting here now reflecting on semester 1, I am so lucky for the amazing friends and many memories I have made so far as well as a lush campus and interesting (yes hard) course. I have left this post so long to write so can’t include all the specifics of the term but I will talk about some of my highlights and a few low lights. Medic family Within the first week of medical school we met our medic parent and went to a local pub to get to know each other. A medic parent is someone in 2nd year to help you through university and be there with you, the rest of your family are their friends and medic children. My medic dad is honestly a legend and I am so glad that I met George, not only is he there to talk about tough subjects in the course but for everything else that goes on at university and of course a boogie. I am so lucky to have such an amazing medic family; I currently speak to more of the 2nd years but when I go back I am going to make an effort to get to know the others in my year too. We have had some fab socials and I am looking forward to more in the future. This leads me onto Ocean (a club) Fridays. Ocean Fridays During freshers I went to Ocean once and honestly wasn’t the biggest fan but as my flatmates will tell you now, I am totally and utterly obsessed and have gone almost every Friday since ahaha. My 2nd trip to Ocean was a medic social: one of the best/fun nights ever, I was turned into an ocean gal. James my flatmate/best mate at university will tell you of how drunk I was when I got home though – I may have thrown goggles at his window (oops) and then preceded to lie on the kitchen floor eating toast 😊☹ I have made so many memories from Friday nights with the best people and can’t wait to make more. To Meera and Hannah, maybe we will get to Ocean in a normal fashion aka not running or being kicked off the tram. Trip home By no means is university plain sailing or easy in the slightest, it has its highest highs but also lowest lows. As I spoke about in my previous blog post I started to suffer with my compulsive exercise again, I was also totally overwhelmed and missed my friends and family at home. For weeks I kept saying I just want to go home but I knew how much of a trek it was so never made the trip home. Eventually I just booked train tickets and went home at the start of November. I synchronised my trip with my best mate as I missed her millions. The first night I was home I went for a meal with my closest friends and then spent the rest of the weekend with my family chilling (I managed to do my first cycle since coming out my boot this weekend too – 21km flat and slow but it was better than I ever thought; the weather was gorgeous, cold but gorgeous!) It was very strange being home but made me realise how much I love where I live and my family but also how lucky I am to have great friends at university to go back to. Tri club The transition between my local triathlon club at home to the UoN performance squad tri club was significant; from swimming 1.6km once a week as a club (as you all know I swam most days anyway but still…) to swimming 4-7km three times a week at university (there are another 2 swim sessions in the week but I haven’t managed to do those yet.) At first I was really struggling with the volume of training and was totally exhausted but I have got used to it now and am loving it, despite the silly o’clock wake ups. I am really looking forward to getting involved with the run and bike sessions this year as I come back from injury. I am not sure if I will be racing this season but we will see, not going to rule anything out yet. Everything injury-wise is going well at the moment so fingers crossed. Campus One of the reasons I chose UoN as my first choice was the campus; it is so green and lush. There is a lovely lake which makes a great run spot and the walk to the medical school is gorgeous on a sunny morning. There are also amazing facilities! Of course the main one I use is the sports centre with a HUGE gym; I am very lucky to live just a 10 minute walk away which makes the early swim sessions slightly better aha. Christmas/end of term celebrations Skipping forward quite a lot… Towards the end of term there were many celebrations going on, I didn’t go to them all but the highlights were: Broadgate Formal – this was our hall formal, it exceeded my expectations and was one of the best nights of university so far with all my closest friends and flatmates. I did embarrass myself by doing the limbo very drunk in front of the whole of Broadgate but hey ho ahhaha. It is fair to say that wine drunk Immie can be very emotional or very happy (eek), this was a very happy Immie night. Medic Christmas ball – who doesn’t love getting dressed up with your best friends, enjoying good food and boogie-ing. It was super cool as all 5 years of Nottingham medics were invited so we could all come together to celebrate. Flatmas – this was such a fun evening with the best flatmates! Although I was revising all week for my exam on the last day (eww and unfair I know) it was nice to chill for a night. We had some amazing food, good tunes, a cute secret santa and lots of laughs. The best way to end term and I can’t wait to see them all in a few weeks! For all those back at uni/college/school i hope this term goes super well for you all,
lots of love Immie <3
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RECIPES
RACE RECAPS TRAINING BESIDES RUNNING SELF CARE BACK TO SCHOOL OVERTRAINING THINGS I AM LOVING LATELY TRIATHLON NEW YEAR Month/year
August 2023
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